For the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 2024 season has been marred by injuries. In the first 5 games, Russell Wilson was out with a calf injury. Now, another superstar has injured himself. Cracks have appeared in the Steelers’ defense. During the week 6 game against the Las Vegas Raiders, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick injured himself while hitting the Raiders TE Harrison Bryant in the 2nd quarter.

Immediately, the safety stood up, holding his right shoulder. He went to the medical tent while shaking his right arm twice to get it looked at by the doctors. Terrell Edmunds replaced him on the field in the meantime.

Thankfully, the safety was out of the medical tent soon after. However, Minkah Fitzpatrick sat with Teryl Austin and Danny Smith on the bench. He is one of the key players in the Steelers’ defense with 35 tackles (26 solos) in 5 games. In today’s game against the Raiders, he made 2 tackles before going off the field.

One of the best safeties in the league, the 4-time Pro Bowl plays a very significant role in defense. While some critics raise questions about his inability to make interceptions (he has made no interceptions in the last 16 games), most Steelers‘ players agree that he can break the offensive plays with his athleticism.

This isn’t the first time he has suffered an injury. The last 2 seasons have been full of injuries.

Minkah Fitzpatrick’s injury history

In the 2022 off-season, he met with a bike accident, resulting in a sprained wrist. During the week 3 game against the Browns in 2022, the safety suffered a concussion. Thankfully, it wasn’t very dangerous as he returned for the week 4 game against the New York Jets. During that game, he had a knee strain that was monitored for the next few weeks.

The next year, in 2023, Minkah Fitzpatrick suffered a chest injury against the Browns in the week 2 game. Initially, he took it lightly and reentered the game. But after feeling discomfort while playing, he was again benched. In the week 8 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, he pulled his thigh and hamstring, which sidelined him for 4 games.

The safety learned his lessons from the injury-laden seasons. In March this year, he talked about his mindset during those years and said, “Even though I wasn’t playing, there were still ways I was trying to get better, whether it be on the field or off the field. I just had to embrace it. It’s part of the game, part of our job.”

Steeler Nation is hoping today’s injury is not very serious. Minkah Fitzpatrick would be thinking about last season while sitting on the bench. Things are still unclear about his injury, but Steeler Nation will hope he can be there for the team come week 7.